<p>I am currently a Computer Science major and I am planning on going to graduate school for a master in electrical engineering. I love CS but I want to know more about hardware. I want to know what is the best path for me to get a MS in EE. Should I take electrical engineering classes for my elective courses?</p>
<p>Someone else may need to fill in some gaps if I leave something out, but at my school, the CS program doesn’t fulfill all of the math and physics requirements for engineering. I’d make sure I had calc 1-3, linear algebra, and differential equations for math. I assume you’ve taken/will take calc 1-2, linear, discrete math, and possibly a statistics class, so just add a couple.</p>
<p>Take physics 2. At my school, physics 1 is a requirement for CS, but physics 2 isn’t.</p>
<p>There may be some engineering specific classes you need to take, too. That’s where someone else will have to chime in, because I’m not sure about those.</p>
<p>
Yes. They’re not going to let you take most graduate EE courses without an understanding of the basics.</p>
<p>As JonJon said, make sure you get all of the required math (CS majors at my school take 1-2 fewer math classes than EE majors, but physics is the same).</p>
<p>The major core classes you should look for are the Intro Circuits sequence, Electromagnetics, and Signals & Systems.
9/10 of my EE grad classes have had at least one of those as a pre-req.</p>
<p>CS have to take all calculus classes in my college and 2 physics and 1 chemistry course. CS have 2-3 courses that are hardware based. The degree is ABET accredited which is not a big deal for CS anyways. I will take those classes and the computer engineering lab as well.</p>
<p>I think a lot of this depends on the type of program you’re in (bachelor of art, science, etc.) and whether or not the CS department is part of the engineering school at your university.</p>
<p>If you’re still early in your college career, you may be able to transfer to a more appropriate major. Many schools offer a CE or EECS program that is basically a combination of EE and CS. If your school doesn’t offer such a program, or if it’s too late for you to switch majors, take a look at the core required coursework for EE majors and try to take as many of those courses as possible. In that case, my advice is to skip the more “practical” CS courses like networking, database implementation, software engineering, etc. Yeah, it may be fun to take a course where you create a cool android app, but if your goal is to get an MS in EE, I would skip those kinds of “project” courses, too.</p>
<p>Some of the basic EE classes you will have to take sooner or later if you want to complete an MS:
Calculus I, II, III
Physics I, II (and you can take nuclear/relativity if you want)
C++, Computer logic classes (probably already got this)
Linear Algebra and Differential Equations
Circuits (1-2 classes)
Signals and Systems (1-2 classes)
Electromagnetism</p>
<p>Also, out of curiosity, exactly why do you wish to study EE? What do you wish to do as a career? Do you actually want to deal with hardware as a job, vs. software?</p>
<p>I want to make embedded system firmware… I know I can do it with just the CS but the electrical engineering classes will help me. Also I want to know how the computer hardware works</p>
<p>The majority of EE classes will not help you with that.</p>
<p>My current company is the world’s main chip maker for mobile devices. I can tell you that an MS in EE is not required to get a software position in one of the firmware teams (although it doesn’t hurt). If that’s really the type of thing you want to do, I think you’re better off getting an MS in CE or CS with an emphasis on embedded systems.</p>
<p>Agreed with what others are saying that most EE classes (and EE degree) will not help you with embedded systems firmware. Maybe 2-3 classes in EE (the foundation / basics) might help, but you can take those classes as electives as an undergrad.</p>
<p>You have to be aware of the opportunity costs of getting an MS. Those are two years during which you are paying tuition when you could be working for money.</p>
<p>If you want to work in embedded systems just get a MS in CS or CompE. Look at different schools curriculum to see if they have courses in RTOS / Embedded devices. </p>
<p>If you get into a EE program, you will learn a lot of integrated circuits and analog signals…something that seems you are not interested in. </p>
<p>Take classes like digital design and microprocessor architecture to round out your CS degree.</p>